1600 Showdown Lives Up To Its Billing
On paper there is not much argument that the two top distance runners on the Western Slope this year are Soroco's Ben Kelley and Montrose's Ian Meek. Both are coming off of state titles with Kelley winning the 2A 800 and Meek the 4A 1600 and 3200. The runners had not met up this spring, and the 1600 was the setting of the showdown.
After Kelley led the pack through the first 800 at around 2:15, Meek took the lead and started to put the hammer down. The two separated from the pack and Kelley responded to Meek's move.
With 200 to go it appeared as if Meek would pull
away, but Kelley's 800 speed was there down the homestretch as he nearly made up
all the distance, to the delight of the homestretch crowd. The two 
finished
in 4:23.38 and 4:23.47, both below Meek's own meet record of 4:23.9 set last
year. Meek moved into third in 4A, and Kelley's new lifetime best is now the top
time in 2A by 11 seconds. Kelley would not finish the day without a gold
medal. He coasted in the 3200 with a win in 10:15.89.
On the girls distance side, Steamboat Springs showed why their girls have had a resurgence the last couple of years. The Sailors swept the 800-3200 with 38 team points coming from three different runners.
Freshman Maggi Congdon led the way with wins in the 1600 (5:24.10) and the 800 (2:23.09). The Sailor's move down to 3A has the freshman currently sitting fifth in the 1600 and eighth in the 800. On Congdon's hip in the 800 was Winter Boese in 2:23.45, which is good enough for ninth in 3A. Bringing home the gold in the 3,200 was Isabelle Boniface (12:32.82) who is now 12th in 3A.
Timer Scott Siettman was kind enough to provide the FinishLynx image of the finish of the race and footage of the final meters of the Meek/Kelly showdown in the 1600 meters from his back-up camera:
And, a complete race video: